In the field of feeding or delivering sheets of paper or other media or the like, drive means and idler means have been and are utilized and cooperate to cause a sheet of paper or like form to be moved along a path from a first position past an operating station to a second position. This feeding or delivering of sheets is relatively simple when the sheet or like form is always driven in one or the same direction.
Additionally, two sets of drive means could be used to provide the desired drive and control of a plurality of sheets, however, space limitations and the complexity of the two drive shafts may cause packaging problems and therefore do not enable the desired compactness of the unit.
Representative prior art in feeding and delivering of sheets such as record paper include U.S. Pat. No. 1,820,258, issued Aug. 25, 1931, to H. H. Vickers, disclosing a tally strip device which includes right and left sideplates fastened by a cross rod. A tally strip is overlaid by a carbon strip onto a spool with the tally strip and the carbon sheet being fed between a paper table and a platen by means of feed rolls which feed the record media or tally strip and the carbon sheet through one of two slots of a hollow spindle in a take-up roll or spool.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,069,489, issued Feb. 2, 1937, to W. A. Eagan, shows a billing machine wherein means is provided for feeding the sheets carried by an auxiliary carriage simultaneously with the vertical shifting of the sheet carried by the main carriage. A feed roller is supported on a shaft mounted for rotation in flanges of carriage members and cooperating with the feed roller is a tension roller supported on a floating shaft. The tension roller is moved out of contact with the feed roller to release the paper by a lever against the action of a spring. To permit different widths of sheets of paper to be driven, the feed roller and the tension roller and their supporting shafts, as well as a release rod are made in several sections with the sections being connected to other sections by a driving connection which includes a sleeve, a stem and a sleeve member to cause the sections to rotate together. A drive shaft transmits rotary motion to the feed rollers and the tension roller with the drive shaft having a pinion in mesh with a rack wheel carried at one end of the platen.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,777,386 issued Jan. 15, 1957, to G. H. Seeney, shows a multiple item receipt printing mechanism having a feed roll, a pressure roll cooperable with the feed roll, a first engaging mechanism operable to bring the rollers into engagement with one another during a part of the rotation of the feed roll so as to feed the record material a certain distance. A second engaging mechanism engages the rollers during a longer period of rotation of the feed roll so as to feed the record material a greater extent by means of a clutch to move the pressure roll to engaged position and a control device actuated upon operation of a control member to actuate the clutch.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,444,977, issued May 20, 1969, to M. E. Kinney et al. discloses mode selection for control of a plurality of work sheets wherein the machine has a front feed chute, split controls for the feed rolls to facilitate use of two forms, two manual levers for controlling the chute and the feed rolls and a clutch to permit feeding of forms on one side of the platen and on the other side of the platen or feeding of the forms on both sides of the platen.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,482, issued on Apr. 4, 1972 to A. Cortona et al., shows a front feeding device for a form and a rear feeding device for another form, and having a plurality of paper pressing rollers for clamping the forms to the underside of the platen. Means for clamping the paper above the platen and operating means for selectively opening and closing the pressing rollers and the clamping means are provided so that the two forms can be disposed, one alongside the other, to enable two different entries to be made during one operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,483, issued Apr. 4, 1972 to A. Cortona et al., shows a paper feed system comprising a platen, means for guiding paper sheets around the platen, a guide mechanism for continuous forms, a first device actuated to rotate the platen and carry the paper sheets, a second device actuated to carry the continuous forms independently of the journal sheets, and a continuously rotating drive shaft. Means are also provided to be actuated by the drive shaft through an actuating clutch with a first presetting clutch between the intermediate means and the first device, and a second presetting clutch between the intermediate means and the second device with programmed operating means adapted to cause engagement of the actuating clutch and of at least one of the presetting clutches.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,815,722 issued June 11, 1974 to J. M. Sessoms, discloses solenoid controlled paper handling mechanism wherein a guide assembly for passbooks or deposit slips is provided to be moved by solenoid actuation from one position to a second position, the first position being for inserting the passbook to a desired position, then actuating the solenoid for the guide means to move through a path to wrap the deposit slip around a portion of the platen and holding it during entry of the printed material. A gripping roller grips the passbook against the platen prior to the guide assembly wrapping the book around a portion of the platen between the gripping roller and a paper engaging portion of the guide assembly. The platen is then powerdriven to shift from one printing position to another so that the guide assembly can slide in slots from one position to the other in a path of travel from the first to the second position. The mechanism also provides side-by-side operation with a journal and receipt item handling mechanism which feeds a roll of paper from one roller to a second roller around the platen on a continuous basis and allows insertion of a deposit slip which allows entries on the deposit slip and on the journal paper and which grips the deposit slips in a similar manner and in a simultaneous operation with the passbook handling portion of the mechanism.
And, U.S. Pat. No. 3,908,883 issued Sept. 30, 1975 to G. Bellisai et al., discloses a one-chain bi-directional paper mover with first, second and third guide sections for transporting paper to and away from a print station. An endless non-elastic chain is engageable by a drive sprocket wheel and the chain is moved about the first and second guide sections and deflected inwardly by the third section for printing on the paper. The one-chain paper mover has replaced two separate superimposed and cooperating mover units with two chains which actuate a web or like document.